The 100th hunger games
by Bigpapi1234
Summary: 48 tributes go in, 4 come out, the 100th hunger games. axel from district 7 is reaped into the 100th hunger games and quarter quell, does he have what it takes to survive?
1. Chapter 1

'mr president sir your live' the tiny voice through his microphone announces and president Augustus snow, son of president Coriolanus snow, walks onto the stage, 'WELCOME WELCOME, to the announcement of the 100th annual hunger games and fourth quarter quell!'.

The crowd cheers and the president let's them yell for a minute or two before beckoning to a young boy who walks out onto the stage and holds a box full of cards, The president pulls out from the box the card marked 100 and reads it out loud, 'to show the districts that two rebellions are no better than one, each district will provide twice the amount of tributes, just like in the 50th hunger games and second quarter quell!'

The president walks off the stage to roaring applause.


	2. Chapter 2

'Axel get up!' The high pitched voice cuts through my dreams and I open my eyes in time to see my 6 year old sister Skye hop onto my bed and start jumping on me 'up up up' she says, giving a pretty good imitation of my grandma's screechy voice who lived with me and my parents and Skye.

It's reaping day ax, she says, you have to get ready, were leaving for the square in 15 minuets! She jumps off my bed onto the floor and runs out the door.

Skye was my only sibling, and she was the most energetic people I knew, even reaping day failed to faze her, though she still didn't understand the complete concept of the hunger games, she was happy because of the party my parents always threw after reaping day to celebrate another year gone by, my parents where one of the richest people in district seven, we lived in section ten, the fanciest section in district seven, where all the well to do people lived in comfort, so this allowed them to provide me and Skye more food then We could eat, clothes without rips and running water in our house, unlike the people from section 1 who all looked too thin and dirty, another benefit I enjoyed from my parents was the fact that they could afford weekly lessons with ash our most recent victor from district 7, his cousin Ronan and him won in back to back years 90 and 91 and each scored a nine in training, so my parents hired them to teach me how to swing and throw an axe on the off chance I got reaped for the hunger games. My dad yells for me to hurry up so I jump out of bed and pull on the pants and shirt my mom left for me and rush downstairs to find my parents sky and my grandmother waiting for me, 'oh axel' my mom says 'you're hair'. My hair is the source of constant argument between me and my mother, while I kinda leave my hair messy and flip it out of my eyes, my mom insists I slick it back especially for today, so I let he slick my hair backing using a considerable amount of hair gel and then quickly rush out the door to escape her yelling that two hairs on the back aren't slicked down enough, we walk toward the square where I join my friends jack, ivy, con and my girlfriend Ava in the 16 year old section. 'Ooh axel your hair' Ava squeals, 'I know' I laugh, 'my mom insisted', 'no I'm not saying it's bad looking, I love it, it looks great'.

Uh yeah' con says 'keep telling yourself that Ava'.

My reply is cut of as Clio, the escort for district seven, walked onto the stage, 'welcome welcome to the reaping for the 100th annual hunger games!'

My first visitors are my parents Skye and my grandma. Skye runs up to me and buries her face in my chest, tears start to form in my eyes when my father speaks up, 'no crying now buddy, you can't see weak, you can do this, you have trained with axes- my mother interrupts him by rushing forward and hugging me 'come home axel, you have to come home' my grandma hugs me and then they are led out and my friends come in Ava rushes forward and hugs me while con jack and ivy sit down on the couch I Hadn't even realized was there, 'you can do this ax jack says, you're the best with axes I know'. the peacekeepers come in and Ava kisses me and follows my friends out the door, nobody else comes and I am led out the door to the train and before I know it where speeding of towards the Capitol, a man dressed in bright red, someone clio calls an Avox, I remember ash telling me about them, they can't talk, leads me to my room, which even though my parents were rich, is the nicest thing I've ever seen, a large canopy bed with a plush velvet couch in the corner, a ornate marble dresser full to the bursting with more clothes than I have ever worn someone knocks on the door and ronan peeks his head in, 'hey ax, where meeting in the central compartment' I follow him out into the main compartment and find my fellow tributes, ash Greets us, 'guys this has just been announced by the president, there is a rule change, 4 people from the same district can win.' So this means says Ronan, that you could all win, do you all be coached together, as allies or separately? 'Allies' I say and everybody else nods agreement, 'alright then says' ash ' what can you all do? 'Lets start with you Maria'.

'my dad was a watch out in the forest, so he had to shoot a bow and he taught me how, I'm no expert but I'm passable'.

'That's great' says Ronan 'Frazier?' The lanky red headed boy says he can swing an axe, and Josie says she can swing an axe, the muscular looking would probably be good at that, she could be 5'10 or 5'11, she also says she has a good knowledge of edible plants.

'Axel?' I can swing and defend myself with an axe, I can also throw one'.

''We already know this says ' says ash, and I continue to be surprised by how much he is talking ash is a tall gruff guy with a buzz cut, he won ten years ago so I remember a little of his games, he started off with the career pack after killing one at the bloodbath in a year where 8 died, however in the second night he killed both tributes from 1 and the girl from 2 while they where sleeping and then ran off, he took no allies and mostly stayed away as the careers killed 4 more tributes and a boy from 8 went mad after his district partner died and killed 2 before being killed by a pack of wolf mutts, this left 7 including 3 careers however the boy from 2 was killed by the girl from 4 and leaving ash both from 4 ash's district partner and a boy from 11 and a girl from 12, the girl from 7 killed the boy from 4 but was then killed by the girl from 4, a volcano erupted and killed the girls from 12 and 4 ash then killed the boy from 11 and won the games. 'Axel?' Says Ronan and I snap out of my memories 'what's up?' I say 'what else can you do?'.

I think 'um a not a bad runner and my dad taught me how to set a fire'.

'OK then' says Ronan, 'you guys have a lot of promise, I wouldn't be surprised if at least 2 of you survive.' I must have been looking skeptical because ash says 'At least you guys are better then the ones from last year.'

The pair from last year where 13 and 14 and both died within 2 days of the games.'

Ronan tosses a look at ash as if to say 'really' but then Clio chimes in for the first time saying 'tomorrow we arrive in the Capitol so everybody go to bed'

I march off to my room and surprisingly fall asleep quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm shaken awake what seems like minutes later, and i glance around blearily looking for skye when I remember: i'm on a train going to the capitol, i'm going to be in the hunger games.

i glance up and see its ronan who shook me awake. 'we're going to be in the capital soon, were eating breakfast together to discuss strategy'. the muscular young man walks out, he is almost the polar opposite of his older cousin, around 5'9 muscular with long messy blonde hair, he won his games 9 years ago, the career pack that year was strangely weak, with both from 1 and the girl from 4 dying in the bloodbath by ronan and the boy from 2, the boy from 4 was then killed the next day by ronan, leaving 12 tributes left, the arena was a mountainous region with hills, full of packs of wolf and bear mutts, three tributes died from the mutts and three more from the pair from two, ronan was then attacked by the boy from 8 and both from 6, he killed both from 6 and the boy ran off and killed the girl from two but was killed by the boy from 2, leaving ronan and the boy from 2 to vie for the crown, ronan was cut in the shoulder and fell and pretended to be almost dead, when the boy walk over to finish him off he thrust upward with the spear he had taken from the boy from 6 and stabbed him in the stomach, cementing himself as victor.

I follow ronan into the dining area where frazier and ash are already eating and talking quietly, i fill my plate with pancakes covered in fruit preserves, some eggs and a strange type of fruit that looked like a peach once i cut it open the actual fruit part looked like a grapefruit despite the fact that it was bright blue and tasted much sweeter than the typically sour grapefruits my parents sometimes bought for special occasions at home, despite my parents being one of the richest people in district 7, there wealth was nothing compared with what i had seen on this train, even the fork i was eating with seemed to be made from gold. 'Axel?' says ash.

'sup?' i reply

"what are your plans for the arena?'

um i think, 'get an axe and get towards the woods?'

ash nods, 'yeah this is what i would advise you to do, your big enough to take out a tribute or two at the bloodbath, get in get a backpack a weapon get out, same thing goes for you frazier'

'what about the girls?' frazier asks

"what about us?'

I turn and see that maria and josie had entered the room followed by a disgruntled looking clio mumbling things like girls sleeping till ten thirty on the day we were supposed to arrive in the capital, and shooting angry looks at ash who I guess was supposed to wake them.

'what about us?' maria asks again as she and josie slid into the booth.

'we are discussing your plans for the opening day of the games' says ash

'and?' says josie

'with double the amount of tributes in the games, double the amount of deaths at the bloodbath-

'double the careers' says josie.

'yes" says ash, 'if you would let me finish i could explain to you what i want you to do' glaring at josie.

'ok go" says maria looking back and forth between the two of them.

'now' says ash, you guys look like you could handle yourselves in the bloodbath, you're all big enough'.

this is true, maria must be the shortest and she was easily 5'8 and most likely 5'9.

josie looked around 5'10 and muscled and me and frazier were both 6'0 frazier probably closer to 6'2

'so what i want you to do, he continues, 'axel and fraizer, go in grab a couple axes get out, if someone attacks you, you kill them, don't hesitate, you hesitate at the bloodbath, you're dead.'

'and us?' says josie indicating herself and maria

'grab some backpacks that are close to you, see if theres a knife on the ground or something, then if there is a forest get towards and the boys will follow, no exceptions'

josie starts to argue and ash barks no exceptions again, josie stops and then gets up and swings around, 'i'm not in the alliance then, if i don't get a weapon at the cornucopia im dead, we all know nobody is gonna sponsor us if the careers are around, especially if the are double the amount, i'm going to stick by my self'. she storms out of the room.

'that ones got spirit' says ash, 'ill get ronan to mentor her, he was just supposed to be around to help me but he can take care if her while I deal with you three'.

'Now to the recap of the reapings, shall we go watch?' 'it will be good for you to see what you're up against'.

We nod assent and walk over towards a large tv while Ronan goes to fetch Josie. She walks in and pointedly ignores us all.

We sit down and ash flips on the tv,I try to make a mental note of everyone but only a few stick in my head, the first person reaped is a small 13 year old boy from 1 who is immediately replaced by a hulking volunteer named Brutus, from District 2 another volunteer by the name of Titus who was easily 6'3 while Brutus was probably closer to 6'5, nobody really sticks in my head from 3, but there are a pair of brothers from 4 tony and carp, tony was drafted and carp volunteered. 'Why did he volunteer?' Frazier asks 'at the time of the reaping we thought only 1 could win'

'This is a career district' says ash 'they most likely already knew about the change there one of the closest to the Capitol'.

I turn my head back to the tv in time to see the last girl from 4 being drafted, Kara who was easily 5'11 and probably weighed as much as me.

The first three called from 5 are all 14 but the last is a 16 year old boy named clay.

From 6: there's boy who's probably 6'1 or 6'2 nobody else sticks in my head.

Then it's our district, and I am happy to see that don't Look scared at all and I'm actually somewhat threatening.

From district 8 there's another huge boy who's around 6'4 and looks like he weighed 220 pounds, there's also a large girl who looked like she could break the 6 foot barrier

District 9 is unremarkable, and district ten has yet another boy who is over 6'2 this one also looks like he could weigh more than 200 pounds

District 11 all look somewhat dangerous, there all above 16 while District 12 has a volunteer, a 15 year old boy who volunteers for someone that looked like was his younger brother.

The tv shuts off.

'Looks like there's a couple big guys out there which is why I want you to band up, the careers will obviously band together and will probably add a couple other tributes maybe the boy from 10 or either of the large tributes from 8, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to enlist one or two of you, since you guys have been swinging axes your whole life you're probably the most trained aside from the career tributes, But if you're asked to join, refuse-

He's cut off by Josie who says 'isn't that exactly what you did in your games? Join the careers, kill a couple and run off while they're asleep?'

'Yes, that is exactly what I did, however, there's twice the careers in these games, in my games all I had to do was kill the person on watch and run off, except I got greedy and decided to take out a couple more and the cannons boomed and suddenly I had 3 careers on my back chasing me down.'

'You guys are to stay away from the careers at all costs.' This is from Ronan and he settles the argument.

Ash talk so us for about a half hour longer about the different strategies different districts use in their games, district 1 normally used knives,spears and bows, while district 2 was more for hand to hand combat with axes, swords and maces. District 4 used a combination of both though he said you could assume that they were going to be good with spears and tridents due to the fact that they were a fishing district. District 3 typically survived for a while of their smarts, but rarely won due to the fact almost all of them where small and not exactly strong, they hadn't had a winner in 30 years, there current mentor, according to ash, was apparently a whiz with snares and he had won his games by setting traps for the tributes to get caught in and then finishing them with a spear, only 5 tributes died in the bloodbath, and there were 5 careers, he set a series of traps which all had different purposes, one sent an arrow into your stomach from a crossbow he had got from the cornucopia the others brought you flying in the air tied by your foot, he killed all of the careers when they walked into a group of his traps, the rest of the tributes killed each other off or where killed by his traps and he won the games.

Then he made us watch a recap of the games from the past 5 years in which the winners were from 4,1,2,2 and 4 again to see what the mentors would most likely teach the career tributes.

The first from 5 years ago was about marine sago a district 4 girl, 9 died in the bloodbath, marine and a guy from 1, Zeus, where the best careers both having scored a ten while everyone else in the pack got a 9 or 8, they each got two kills at the bloodbath, Marian with a pair of Kama and Zeus with a sword and throwing knives, the careers where especially blood thirsty that year as they tortured and killed 5 more tributes before a girl from 5 crept up in the night and slit the throats of the boy from 4 and the girl from 1 and ran off before any of the careers had woken up, they argued over who had killed them and eventually split up with Zeus teaming up with Marian and the pair from 2 going off by themselves, there were 8 left at that point, and two more tributes died off at the hands of Marian and a pack of little lizard mutts, then about a week and a half into the games, the pair from 2 where attacked by the lizard mutts, the boy was killed and the girl ran right into Marian who killed her,without warning Zeus turned on Marian as there were only 4 tributes left and attempted to kill her, but she fought him off and killed him, the pair left where the boy from 6 and the girl from 5 who had killed the careers, the girl from 5 got killed by the boy from 6 and then Marian made easy work of him crowning her victor of the 95th hunger games.

The next game was about blaze from 1, blaze was a tall thin guy with close cropped curly hair, he was excellent with throwing spears and throwing knives and scored an 11 in training. in the bloodbath 10 died including his district partner and the boy from 4, both where killed by a huge boy from district 8 who used an axe. blaze killed three and the guy and girl from 2 killed two. the girl from 4 killed another with a bow but didn't join the careers. other notable tributes were the girl from 7 who held a pair of twin axes and killed the boy from 11 the next day. the careers then attacked a pack of tributes which included both from 12 and 10 and the girl from 3, blaze killed two more and each from two got a kill, the girl from 3 ran off but was killed by the boy from 8 who had gone mad and attempted to eat her, the gamekeepers stunned him and took the body out. after those 5 died there was 8 left: blaze, both from 2, the boy from 3, the girl from 4, the girl from 7, the boy from 8, and the boy from 9. the boy from 3 was chased by the girl from 7 but he led her towards a mine he set up and blew her up. 7 left. the boy from 8 killed the girl from 4 and then ran into the careers, he killed both from 2 but was killed by blaze. 3 left. blaze quickly took care of the boys from 9 and 3 and won the 96th hunger games.

The next one was about Dax from district 2, from watching his games I saw he was one of the most ruthless and skilled careers I had ever seen, he killed 4 at the bloodbath in which 8 died, the next day he captured and tortured a girl from 6 who had cut his face in the bloodbath, when he killed her his fellow careers including his district partner tried to kill him but he killed 3, the boy from 1 his district partner from 2 and the girl from 4, 12 were left at that point and he continued to kill of tributes, a week in he had 10 kills and there were 7 tributes left including him and his former allies from 1 and 4.

The next day he killed the girl from 1 and the boy from 12 leaving 5 left: him and both from 3 the boy from 4 and the boy from 10, the pair from 3 enlisted the boys from 4 and 10 into an alliance to try and kill the monstrous boy, however, it failed, he killed both from 3 and later that day the boy from 4 killed the boy from 10 leaving just him and Dax left, at that time Dax had 15 kills, and he collected number 16 and the win after decapitating the boy from 4.

in The next Dax mentored a new tribute, Alexis to becoming the newest victor. at the bloodbath the boys from 1,4 and 7 banded together to kill the other careers, the boy from 2 fell and the girls from 1 and 4 along with 13 others, 8 tributes left on opening day, the girl from 2 Alexis ran into the alliance of 1,4 and 7 and killed the boys from 1 and 4, leaving 6 the boy from 7 killed both from 6 and Alexis killed the boys from 5 and 11 leaving the boy from 7 and Alexis to fight it out, the boy from 7 cleaved her stomach open but Alexis stabbed his eye out with her spear and then stabbed him in the stomach, winning the games.

The last game ash forced us to watch was the one from last year, when there was almost no food at the cornucopia and the only weapons were knives, only 6 died at the cornucopia two by the hands of the eventual winner shad risqué from 4 who was great with knives throwing and otherwise, the next day shad and his district partner found a small lake to fish in and camped out, not going back to the careers.

On day 3 they ambushed the careers, all of them were armed with knives except for the boy from 1 who had gotten a spear from sponsors, shad and his partner jumped out of the trees and had killed the boy from 2 and the girl from 1 before anyone could react, the girl from 2 fled but the boy from 1 tried to stand and fight but was brought down by shad, the girl took the spear as shad was better with knives.

The next day 3 tributes were killed by poisoned plants and acid rain there were 12 left after that.

Shad and his partner ran into a group of 4 tributes from 6 and 9 and killed them all which brought the games into the top 8 and a feast was called at the cornucopia, they got there first and killed a tribute before they grabbed some supplies and ran after the boy from 12 who was excellent with a bow that he had gotten from a sponsor, they chased him down and he shot shads district partner and got away as the rest of the tributes fought it out at the cornucopia.

He ran back towards the feast in time to see the pair from 8 killing the last tribute from 11, he threw his knife and hit the boy from 8 in the back of the head, killing him instantly, the girl tried to run but he brought her down as well leaving 3 tributes left: shad the boy from 12 and the girl from 2.

Mutts were put in then and chased them all into the center of the arena at the cornucopia, shad managed to climb on top but the boy and girl where brought down by the lions that had been sent in.

Just as it had finished Clio barged in saying 'lunch and then we arrive in the Capitol' I was unable to keep from laughing at her voice and the way she pronounced Capitol as ca pe tall in her singsong voice, Frazier and Josie looked at me trying to see what was up but Maria and ash joined in with my laughter

'Lunch' said Clio 'now'.

We marched into the room while ash continued to talk to us about the other tributes, 'you guys saw the huge tributes from 8?' I can give you a good idea of what they will fight like, after the rebellion, the Capitol decided to redo to 75th hunger games as there was no winner and to punish the districts they sent in 96 kids, the winner that year was thread from district 8, I'll show the video to you later but it will give you an idea of how they fight because he will be their mentor and he was probably 6'6, but now let's eat and I'll keep talking'.

We dug into the food which was a whole roasted pig with an apple in its mouth, different types of small sandwiches, tiny vegetable floating in a buttery sauce, a type of sea creature which ash said was shrimp covered in garlic and butter, which I tried one bite off and spat out much to Ash and Ronan's amusement and clio's displeasure. Ash kept up a running commentary about different tributes, like 'district 5 is known for being very sneaky, they will be hard to find' and 'district 11 works with food all the time so they will know what food is safe or not, it would be good to get one of them in your alliance'.

Ronan would chime in to agree with him occasionally and gave us a talk about how district 12 would be weak and underfed but would probably know how to handle a knife as crime rates had soared in district 12 since it had been rebuilt, and you could bet that they knew how to defend themselves. After some time ash announced that it was time to watch the 75th quarter quell and the we would arrive in the Capitol.

He put it in and I was amazed at the amount of tributes thatweree being sent to die, 96 would go In and 1 would come out, our champion was, as ash had said, easily 6'6 and scored a 10 in training, they then cut to the bloodbath, and it was terrible as tributes died left and nobody to the right! (sorry I made a mistake and left out right so I was just like i'm keeping it that way.) and thread himself killed 3, and I saw a boy from 4 take on 4 tributes that attacked him and killed them all, the career pack that year was so large and I thought how terrified I would be to be In these games, 48 tributes was one thing but 96 was another, in total 33 kids died in the bloodbath and the others died off quickly, there were 24 careers, the amount of tributes in a normal year, 3 died at the bloodbath but they killed 5 kids the next day and 3 more where killed by mutts, thread killed 2 more kids including one of his district partners the next day, when a volcano erupted killing 5 more kids, a band of ten kids ran into the careers and killed 3 but half of them quickly died and the rest ran off, the careers eventually broke up when a smart guy from 1 slit the throats of 2 of the boys from 4 and ran off with three allies, the remaining careers argued and 6 were killed in the fight and they split up. One week in and there was 40 kids left, thread ran into a group of three careers and killed them with his mace, one particularly bloodthirsty career pack the 6 remaining tributes from 2 ran into a pack of 7 kids from 3 and 5 and butchered them, leaving only one boy from 5 who pretended to be dead and then crawled into the bushes. 30 tributes left including 14 careers and a feast was called, it was basically a second bloodbath as 8 kids died, 3 from thread and the rest from the three career packs, thread ran off and the three career packs fought and 4 more kids died, leaving 18 in play which included 8 careers split into one pack of 4 and one group of 2 and two others who were by themselves, thread ran into the group of two tributes from 1 and killed both of them, the other career pack killed of 4 more which left 12 tributes: thread four from two two from 4 one from 5 and 4 from 6 who had been acting in a pack, the remaining careers pack ended quickly when walking across a rope bridge, the boy from 5 cut the rope sending all but one boy to the sharks below, it was a feeding frenzy and all of them died, the boy from 2 was just getting up when thread came barging in and smacked him in the head with his mace, the boy stumbled and then he too fell down towards the sharks. Leaving 8 tributes surprisingly only two where careers, a second feast was called and when the tributes arrived at the cornucopia a pack of wolf mutts were dropped down the four from 6 where the first to arrive, and three of them were killed before the pair from 4 arrived and killed that last one, thread came and smashed the girls head in when an arrow caught his hand he dropped his mace and the boy from 5 charged in, the boy from 4 threw his spear before he could shoot again and killed him, and there was just thread and the boy left, the boy reached down to stab him thread reached upwards and with his remaining strength choked him to death.

'So' said Frazier 'there gonna choke us to death?' Ash laughed 'no but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them tried, no thread will teach them to use their size to there advantage, look for maces, clubs or even their fists.'

Here Ronan chimed in 'The others probably won't be of much use, coming from district 8, there's almost no grass at all, mostly just factories, so they will have little in survival skills, probably most careers will be the same, so later in the games once the career pack has been reduced you guys will have the advantage, except for naturally the ones from 4 will know how to fish.'

'so you're saying, take away their supplies and-'

'Exactly' said ash 'there gone'.

'We are arriving in the Capitol now' Clio announced.

I looked to ash

'Alright kids' said ash in a resigned sort of way 'let's go meet the Capitol'.


	4. Chapter 4

I dont know how to add notes- but sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to make them get to the capitol and im already halfway done with chapter 5 which will be much longer, trust me this fanfic will get better soon, please review

We get of the train and walk right into a roaring crowd, theres a roped off pathway for us to walk through, On either side of us are some of the strangest outfits I had ever seen, Bright reds, purples and yellows, hats that where a foot higher than their head, whiskers, tails and all different types of animal parts grafted onto humans. we walk into the training center and a pair of avoxes close the doors.'they stagger the arrivals throughout the day to make it more of a show' ash says, 'we will be the 7th district to arrive'.

'lets go upstairs to our rooms, shall we? says clio and she marches into an elevator, 'we are on the 7th floor, so all you have to do is get in the elevator and press number 7, easy enough to remember'.

Our rooms are just as impressive as the ones on the train. 'Everybody check out their rooms and we will meet for dinner in 5' says ronan and we all separate, me and maria and led to a pair of rooms that are side by side, I enter my room and it is a lot like my room on the train; ornate canopy bed, A marble dresser with clothes, a bathroom the size of my room at home, thoughts of home flood my head, I think of skye and of my friends at home, I have to get back I think, I have to get back. I'm interrupted as maria sticks her head in, 'hey axel I think we should go meet the others for dinner'

'yeah ok' I responded and walk out of the room, she follows me.

'hey axel'

'yeah?'

'do you think we have a chance to get home?'

I think for a second before replying 'Of course we have a chance but-'

she interrupts me 'a good chance?'

'if we band together and maybe add a couple other tributes, we could take out a couple careers but to be honest we stand no chance against 12 we need to figure out a way to take them out'

she doesn't respond and we enter the room, everybody else is in there including two more people who I had never seen

'Finally you're here' clio says 'now this is Claudia'; she indicates a tall regal looking woman with bright orange hair and pale orange skin; 'and Crete'; this one is a guy with gelled up purple hair that reaches about a foot off of his head. 'They will be your stylists for the tribute parade and interviews, since there are so many tributes this year there will be several new procedures, the first is that training is now two days, you will have two days to train and then on the third day you will have your private sessions, whoever the private sessions will be staggered over two days, on the first day two tributes will go, the next day the other pair, axel and maria will go on day 3 and frazier and josie day 4'. 'any questions' clio asks and before we can even ask one she continues on her breakneck talking speed 'Another new procedure is the interviews, since there are 48 of you we don't have time for 3 minutes each so you're simply going to walk onto the stage and announce your name, district and weapon of choice, then the interviewer will ask you one question you will answer it and then its the next persons turn, okay?'

She looks positively delighted and so do Claudia and Crete

'now lets eat' she says and for the first time I look at the food arranged on the table, There's several roasted chickens arrayed on a bed of greens and apples, A soup that tastes of strawberries, baskets of fresh fruit, several different pies, a type of meat that I don't know but ash calls venison, a basket of rolls and last a pan of mashed potatoes one of my favorite foods from back home. I ignore everybody else until I finish a large plateful before starting on the rest of the food. 'so' ash is saying 'for training, how do you want to play it?'

when we all look confused ash continues, 'do you want to show everybody what you can do?' the other tributes?'

when we still look confused ronan steps in 'do you want to show the other tributes what you can do?' 'for axel do you want to go and throw axes to you hearts content showing all of the other tributes, and careers, that you're excellent at axe throwing, or do you want to avoid the axe throwing and try to learn to swing a mace and make a fool of yourself and then everybody will overlook you and think you're worthless?'

I reply 'i'm going to throw axes to show everybody what I can do, but Im also going to try to learn other skills, such as knife throwing'

'ok' says ash, 'I think that goes for everybody then, spend maybe an hour at the axes per day, then alternate between trying to throw spears or knives, and learning survival skills such as setting a fire, or how to find food'

me maria frazier and josie nod assent

'good' says ronan, 'then we need to talk about the tribute parade, that happens tomorrow night so all of tomorrow you will spend with Crete and Claudia, guys with crete and girls with claudia, now finish your dinner and off to bed, chop chop'

I walk out of the room followed by maria, I walk into my room and call goodnight to maria, she replies in kind and I throw myself onto the bed without even undressing and fall asleep


End file.
